Tim Duncan has looked like a player younger than his 36-year-old self this postseason, and Bruce Bowen, Duncan’s former San Antonio Spurs teammate, attributes his resurgence to the 20 pounds he dropped since the end of last season.

Duncan, Bowen said, changed his eating habits after the Spurs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Memphis Grizzlies last season.

“He lost a lot of weight,” Bowen said on ESPN Sunday morning (via the San Antonio Express-News). “In fact, when we would go out to eat, Tim would split the bill and we had a big plethora of food (in front) of us. But now, he’s starting to eat wheat bread and chicken only, no mayonaise, no mustard, none of that.”

Bowen added that carrying less weight has been “easy on (Duncan’s) knees and easy on his body and he took care of his body during the lockout. He understood it would end at some point, but he took care of himself.”

Duncan is averaging 17.4 points, on 52.3 shooting, 9.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks this postseason for the Spurs, who are a perfect 9-0 so far in these playoffs.